Ravenswood Manor
by Firebrd27
Summary: Kyle was an ordinary guy...UNTILL HE STUMBLED UPON A MANSION OF GHOSTS!


Kyle lay on his hard, cotton mattress and stared blankly into space. He couldn't stop thinking about those jewels. All the colors simply enthralled his brain. The diamonds seamed to radiate sunlight from inside of the other gems. Every second caused one of the nine gems to pulsate in a wave of color. The colors flooded the room. Kyle reached out to touch one of them. He was almost there… "BRING, BRING!" The wooden phone on the wall shook the timbers to which it was attached. "BRING, BRING!"

"What is it?" Kyle said sleepily.

"You know who it is." Replied the voice sternly. That voice sounds familiar, thought Kyle.

"_Fireheart_? Why are you calling me? It's…" Kyle looked at his pocket watch. "10 o' clock at night."

"You know damn right what I'm calling about."

"No, I _don't_!"

"_Fine_, I'll explain because it _seems_ that you can't remember the crime you committed."

"_Crime_? I didn't commit any crime!" exclaimed Kyle.

"Sure. So the gems just walked out by themselves."

"The gems are gone?"

"Yeah, and you were the last to see them."

"Are you sure you didn't just misplace them?"

"Oh, I'm sure, thief," replied Fireheart. "And just so you know, I'm coming for you tonight. With my shotgun." Kyle heard a practice shot. "I'm coming for you, you crazy son-of-a…" Kyle hung up the phone.

"Now, where could the gems have gone?" said Kyle to himself. "Hmm. Fireheart said no one had seen it but him and me. No one could have taken it by force or by reason, because that professor's place is so highly protected, not even a rat could get in. What did he say that he got the gems? Hmm." Kyle flopped down on the bed. He looked up at the ceiling. It was filled with cracks and dust usually fell on him. Suddenly, it seemed as if there was a face on the ceiling, but a second later it was gone. "No. It couldn't have been. Or could it? The doctor said he got them from old mansions that were deserted. And he also said he saw ghosts there. Could the ghosts have taken the gems back? No. Yes. No. Yes." Kyle argued with himself for a moment. "I must find out where they went." Kyle thought about every deserted mansion in Unterberg, but only thought of one and it wasn't even in Unterberg. It was in the nearby town of Thunder Mesa. The locals had dubbed that old house Phantom Manor though only they knew why. "Better get going," mumbled Kyle. He quickly packed a burlap bag with his belongings; a couple of shirts and pants, a pair of shoes, razor, and some dried beef and water. Then he got dressed, slipped on his holster and pulled on his boots. "I know I'm forgetting something," he thought. He looked up. There on the table ahead of him was his trusty pair of revolvers. Kyle walked over to the table, slipped them onto his hands and spun them around. He practiced with them a little for he was not a real expert and could hardly hit a whisky bottle from 20 feet away. Kyle walked back to his bed, picked up the bag, put on his hat and walked toward the sunrise, and Phantom manor.

Kyle awoke with a start. He was drenched in sweat. He looked up at the building whose shadow he was in. Phantom manor stared back. Kyle had made it to Phantom Manor last night, but upon seeing the manor in it's nocturnal splendor, he decided it would be better, and safer, to sleep outside the gates. Now that he was awake, Kyle got out of the bag, repacked his things and stood up. "This house doesn't look so bad now." Kyle said to himself. However, he still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something bad in that house. "Oh well, now to open the door." The gate was made of wrought iron and had turned green with age. As Kyle walked up to it, the gate fell forward. "It would have crushed me if I had kept walking. That's when he saw it. On the ground, there was a trail leading up to the house. A trail of blood. Kyle followed it entranced. It was as if the blood itself put a spell on him. "WHOO!" Kyle almost fell backward when the air hit him. "What the…?" Another hit. It seemed as if the house itself was… breathing. "What is this place?" Said Kyle. Kyle had to time this right. Every time the house blew at him, the doors opened. He jumped on to the railing on the porch and held on to the pillar in front of him. "WHOO!" Kyle jumped on the porch and the porch and bounded threw the doors. "BLAM, CLICK!" The doors slammed close behind him and locked themselves. "Looks like there's no turning back now," said Kyle grimly. Kyle looked around the old mansion.

The mansion's outside façade was of Victorian style, and included a gazebo. The inside, however, was an entirely different style. Kyle dropped his bag in awe. In front of Kyle was a marvelous grand staircase, which was at the far end of the foyer. Upon the walls was a flowery wall paper, which was peeling in rather random places. To his right and left, there seemed to be a rather extensive collection of antiquities, including many suits of armor from days of yore. Kyle wandered forward gazing suspiciously at the paintings upon the wall. They seemed to be watching him, each with a unique look upon its face, yet all were evil. That is, except for one. That was the one hanging on the wall where the staircase separates. The painting was a full length portrait of a beautiful bride. In her arms was a gorgeous bouquet of roses. Kyle was drawn to it, but stopped a few feet away. The painting seemed to wink at him. Suddenly, the bride seemed to jump out of the portrait, but that couldn't be. But it was, for he fell down the stairs with a wonderful woman in his arms. Kyle was totally stunned, even when she kissed him affectionately, first on the cheek, then to the lips.

"Dear Sutter, I knew you'd return to me someday!" exclaimed the bride.

"I'm sorry miss, but I'm not your Sutter," replied Kyle.

"Why, of course you are, silly!"

"I'm not," said Kyle sternly. "My name's Kyle."

"Oh," she said sadly. "Well in that case, welcome to Ravenswood Manor! How is it that you have come to this dismal place?"

"Well, I was falsely accused of a crime and now I have to try and get back what was stolen."

"Oh… I think you mean those gems, right? The Phantom has them."

"Who's the Phantom? And who are you?"

"The Phantom is a curious specter who came here from who knows where. He all of a sudden appeared out of the lake. It was rather curious. After a while, he brought more ghosts here and now there are over 900 all together, not including the skeletons."

"There are ghosts here? _And_ skeletons, too?"

"Of course!" said the bride happily. "What do you think I am?"

"You're…a g-g-ghost?"

"Surprise! Now please, let me finish my story. Unfortunately, the Phantom came right after my parents died, so I was in such a deep despair that I was powerless to stop him. He swept right over this house like a wave. Now he controls most of this here house, which has taken up the informal name, Phantom Manor."

"Are you finished?" asked Kyle.

"Yep," said the bride.

"By the way, what's your name? And who's Sutter?"

"Oh, me? My name is Melanie. Melanie Ravenswood. Sutter is my fiancé. He was killed by the Phantom. Hung from the Gallery's ceiling." replied the ghost sadly.

"So… You're the _real_ owner of this mansion, right?"

"That's right. You said you were looking for those gems right? Well, I can help you get them," said Melanie.

"You can?" Kyle said, amazed. "Thank you!"

"Of course," replied Melanie. "Follow me, please."

"Wait just a second." Kyle ran and grabbed his bag. "Ready."

The twosome walked a great distance. They traveled down seemingly endless corridors, past doors that seemed to breathe, and finally, came to a small door at the top of a marble staircase.

"Will this lead us to the gems?" asked Kyle.

"Yes," nodded Melanie. Melanie opened the door, and as she did, a great rush of air flew inside. It smelled of old crypts and of the bones dwelling in them. It looked as if it was outside, but that couldn't be. They were on the second floor.

"Please. Walk all the way to the crypt over there," Melanie said as she pointed forward. "That will lead you to where you need to go. And remember. Only go into the one with the letters P-H-A-N-T-O-M inscribed directly above the door. Also, please excuse the busts. They have a head for singing too loud."

"Aren't you coming?" asked Kyle.

"I'm truly sorry but I can not leave the house. However, I can meet you there. Good-bye!" And she was gone.

The landscape was horribly dreadful. The sky was ablaze with lightning and it was raining as hard as if the sky it self was weeping for those who perished there. The graveyard itself was of a classical roman style, with each tomb looking like a miniature mausoleum. Scattered somewhat randomly throughout the scene were a handful of obelisks, statues, and tombstones. Some of these were either knocked down, or completely shattered. For those select few, all that remained was a pitiful looking stump. In the middle of all these graves stood a huge colossal structure. It was of stone, covered in vines, with an enormous domed roof. This was topped with decorative urns. Weather or not the ashes of someone was contained within it was not certain. What was certain was the name inscribed above the door; PHANTOM. Kyle walked up to the wrought iron gate, much like the fences surrounding him. It seemed as if the statues of wraiths beside him were guardians of the threshold, warning him of whose crypt this was and wishing him luck. Kyle reached up and touched the gate. All of a sudden, the twin wraiths shook with life and bent down to him. They seemed to eye him cautiously, thinking of weather or not to allow him through. It seemed they approved, especially when one gave him its torch. The torch was set alight as soon as it touched his hands. Then the two pushed open the doors to the unknown and Kyle walked through.

"Ha. I wonder what the professor is doing now," said Kyle as he walked down the spiral staircase. "What'd he say about that momentum thing again? Hmm. Oh yeah. He said…

_"Listen up you! There's more to momentum than just that one equation. One example is that momentum can also be 'conserved'. This only happens when momentum stays the same. For example, let's say your horse runs the same speed and has the same momentum for 20 minutes. We can then say that momentum has been conserved for 20 minutes. Got that? No, of course you don't. Go home and figure out these equations, okay?"_

Kyle still had that piece of paper in his pocket. He reached in his pocket to get it out, but before he could get it out, the most amazing sight unfolded itself before him. He was outside again, and by the looks of it, in Thunder Mesa. It was night now, and the town seemed… strange. He couldn't figure out what it was just yet, but he would.

"What 'cha looking at, Kyle?"

"Ahhh!" Kyle looked behind him. Hovering in mid air was Melanie. "Don't scare me like that!"

"He, he, he!" giggled Melanie. "Sorry."

"Hey Melanie, why are we back in Thunder mesa?"

"Oh… you think… no silly!"

"What Melanie?"

"This isn't Thunder Mesa. It's Phantom Canyon. The Phantom made this as a ghostly version of Thunder Mesa. It's always night here and the inhabitants are trapped in a single day. That was the day my parents were killed in a great earthquake that hit here in 1860. That was also the day when everyone was preparing for my wedding."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've got you now."

"I guess so. I'm actually starting to like you."

"Thanks," replied Melanie shyly.

"Where are the jewels? Said Kyle, getting right to the point.

"They're in coffin… by the Phantom."

"Oh… perfect."

There was the Phantom. He kind of just stood there. He wore all black, including a black trench coat, overcoat, hat, and shoes. Also, his face was entirely black, like a black cloud always obscured his face, or he didn't have any. The way he talked when any inhabitant of his town was in a gruff tone, like an old man who has seen the horrors of war and believed he was better because he was the sole survivor. There beside him was an open coffin. And there, in plain sight, were the planet gems.

"I've got it!" whispered Kyle to Melanie. "First, we'll get that donkey over there to get up to a sufficient speed and momentum. This will maybe be about, let's say, 1650 Kg x m/s. We'll get it going by slapping it hard. Then, you can steer it over to the Phantom while momentum is conserved. After, ram the Phantom, and he'll fly into that tree. He'll be knocked out. Then we can get the gems, free you and get out of here."

"Kyle, that's a good plan and all, but how about you distract him and I'll grab the jewels."

"That plan's… okay. But how about _you_ distract him and _I'll_ grab the jewels?

"Deal."

"GO!"

They both ran out at the same time. Kyle hid in the bushes behind the gravestone. Melanie went to distract the Phantom. First Melanie tried taunting the Phantom but he taunted her back. "I need to get him away from the coffin." Then she started throwing rocks at him. _That_ worked. That worked really well. The Phantom dove for Melanie, but missed. What started as just simple taunting ended up as a wild goose chase around the nightmarish town.

"Good job Melanie!" whispered Kyle to himself. Kyle slowly crept over to the coffin from where he was hiding and grabbed the gems. Unfortunately, the Phantom had just given up his chase and looked back to his coffin. To find his precious gems missing sent him into a rage, especially when he saw Kyle carrying them.

"You little THEIF!" yelled the Phantom. "When I get a hold on your neck, I'll…" But he never got to finish his sentence, for at that moment; Melanie rode up in a black horse drawn hearse and ran over him. Suspiciously, there were no horses pulling it, all he could see were the saddles floating in the air and the rather loud sound of hooves upon gravel.

"Get in!" she shrieked. Kyle ran over, jewels in hand and jumped in back. From there, the hearse sped off into a nearby crypt. There were no coffins in there, only three mirrors. When Kyle looked in to them, he saw the hearse, but with an unexpected guest. That's right; the Phantom had… hitched a ride with them. However, it was short lived. Literally, for as they passed the last mirror, he disintegrated in a puff of black smoke. Kyle climbed up to sit by Melanie. "Why did the Phantom disappear?"

"He's still bound by his curse," replied Melanie, her eyes still on the road.

"But if he's still bound by his curse, why didn't you disappear?" asked Kyle, puzzled.

"That's because I broke my curse. My curse was to wait an eternity until my love returned to me. You are my love. Reincarnated that is, but still my love nonetheless," said Melanie. Then she reached over and kissed Kyle on the lips.

Kyle pulled back for a second. "I think I can live with that. Maybe now you can get your wedding," said Kyle.

"I'd like that," replied the bride. Then they rode away, leaving the Phantom Manor in the distance.


End file.
